Impact of Immersive Video Education on Cardiothoracic Surgery Anxiety and Outcomes

March 3, 2026 updated by: Baptist Health South Florida

Exploring the Effect of Visually Immersive Video Education on Cardiothoracic Surgery Patients' Preoperative Anxiety and Postoperative Outcomes

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to examine the effect of visually immersive preoperative education on levels of anxiety and patient outcomes in patients undergoing cardiothoracic (open heart) surgery

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Florida
      • Miami, Florida, United States, 33143
        • South Miami Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Inpatients and outpatients scheduled for elective cardiothoracic (open heart) surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients undergoing emergent cardiothoracic (open heart) surgery
  • Patients with altered mental status
  • History of mental health disorders (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder)
  • Legally blind/complete blindness and hearing impaired (without hearing aids)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention - Visually Immersive Video Education
Participants receive visually immersive (virtual reality-designed) preoperative video education shown on a tablet that orients patients to the postoperative CVICU environment, equipment, and expected recovery processes. After viewing the video, the open-heart trained CVICU nurse provides opportunity for discussion, clarification, and questions. Assignment to this arm occurs during intervention weeks (Weeks 1-2 of each month, per protocol).
The patients watch a 5-minute visually immersive education video on what to expect postoperatively on arrival to the cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) followed by the opportunity for discussion/explanation and questions.
Active Comparator: Control - Standard Preoperative Education
Participants receive standard preoperative education consisting of a basic verbal explanation of what to expect postoperatively on arrival to the CVICU, followed by opportunity for questions. Assignment to this arm occurs during control weeks (Weeks 3-4 of each month, per protocol).
The patient receives a basic verbal explanation of what to expect postoperatively on arrival to CVICU followed by the opportunity for questions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety relief (self-report measure 1 - State-Trait Anxiety Inventory)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Patient's anxiety will be measured using the 20-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (state scale only) (higher scores indicate higher anxiety), taken before and after preoperative education is received.
30 minutes
Anxiety relief (self-report measure 2 - Visual Analog Scale for Anxiety)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Patient's anxiety will be measured using the Visual Analog Scale for Anxiety (VAS-A), a slider scale of 0 - 100 is used to self-report anxiety (0 = not anxious and 100 = extremely anxious), taken before and after preoperative education is received.
30 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety relief (physiological measure 1 - blood pressure)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Blood pressure is measured before and after receipt of preoperative education. Increased anxiety may cause elevation of this physiological indicator.
30 minutes
Anxiety relief (physiological measure 2 - heart rate)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Heart rate is measured before and after receipt of preoperative education. Increased anxiety may cause elevation of this physiological indicator.
30 minutes
Anxiety relief (physiological measure 3 - respiratory rate)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Respiratory rate is measured before and after receipt of preoperative education. Increased anxiety may cause elevation of this physiological indicator.
30 minutes
Postoperative CVICU Outcome 1 - Length of Stay
Time Frame: Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Patients' length of stay (# days) in the CVICU.
Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Postoperative CVICU Outcome 2 - Intubation Time
Time Frame: Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Intubation time = Length of time the patient is on mechanical ventilation.
Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Postoperative CVICU Outcome 3 - Re-intubation
Time Frame: Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Re-intubation after initial removal from mechanical ventilation (yes or no).
Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Postoperative CVICU Outcome 4 - Blood Sugar Regulation
Time Frame: Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU
Blood sugar regulation = comparison of point-of-care blood sugar levels taken on postoperative day 1 and on the day of discharge from CVICU.
Within 30 days after the patient is discharged from CVICU

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Natalie Bermudez, PhD, RN, EBP-C, Baptist Health | Nursing & Health Sciences Research

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 15, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 15, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 23, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 29, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

October 30, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 4, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2026

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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